Fabric



FABRIC Filed Feb. 19, 1944 Maw/2L Peiemea .lum-'11,1946

'Abraham A. xhii', Ridgefield, N. J. Appiieauen February 19, 1944, seriei No. 523,145

My invention relates to a single-ply puckered fabric and particularly to a woven fabric which is -puckered by shrinking certain threads woven at spaced intervals in the fabric.

Heretofore puckered fabrics of the above type have generally been formed of two plies inter-g woven at spaced intervals and one of these plies A being shrunk or otherwise contracted to a smaller area than the other with the result that the unshrunk fabric is wrinkled or puckered lbetween the points at which it is interwoven with the shrunk fabric. The two-ply fabrics of this type, however, have certain limitations, namely the increased expense of weaving and interweaving the two plies, and also the increased weight and thickness of the fabric necessitated by the use of two plies.

.In my present invention I provide a puckered fabric in which the puckering of the fabric is obtained by the selected shrinking of certain of the threads of the woven fabric. These threads may be either in the warp or in the weftthreads or may be both in the Warp and the weft. The fabric of my invention is formed predominantly of threads which vare non-shrinkable Awhen subjected to fulling but in which there are substituted at spaced intervals, or interwoven in the fabric either as warp or weft threads or both, threads which are shrinkable by fulling. Accordingly when the fabric is woven in the usual way it is at and not puckered, but when subjected to a fulling operation the shrinkable threads at spaced intervals are permanently shrunk and draw the fabric into small` wrinkles or puckersv giving the desired puckered effect.

For this-purpose the shrinkable threads are ofv wool or 'contain a substantial quantity of wool,

for exampleffty per cent or more, or of a percentage of a, mixture of wool and other fibers such as cotton, rayon, etc.l When subjected to fulling thse threads shrink permanently so that they cannot be stretched While wet or while being dried and, therefore, hold the fabric in a perma' nent puckered or wrinkled condition. If the fabric comprises a mixture of woolen fibers and bers vof rayon or4 cotton or other unfullable bers in combination with wool which is full-able, the extent of shrinkage may be controlled and limited to a definite percentage.

For example threads containing a mixtureA 'of' wool and sufficient percentage of relatively nonshrinking fibers when subjected to fulling may be shrunk to a'certain extent and do not shrink substantially to any further 'extent upon further 4 claims. (ci. 139-426) fabric having such threads may be. subjected to washing and' fullingjwithout danger of increasing the puckered effect or of shrinking' the fabric beyond the shrinkage originally given to lt.

The various features of my invention are illustrated by way of example Ain the accompanying drawing in which Fig. 1 is a face or plan view on an enlarged scale of a fabric of my invention prior tofulling and shrinking, and Fig. 2 is a ,similar View of the same fabric after it has been fulled and the shrinkable threads shrunk to pucker` the fabric.

' Referring more particularly to Fig; 1 the fabric is comprised of Warp and weft threads III and II which are substantially non-shrinkable by fulllng, that is, threads of cotton, rayon, nylon, silk, or mixtures of these bers, and others.

At spaced intervals are also warp or weft threadsor both, indicated at I2, although these threads need not be heavier than the threads I0. 'I'he threads I2 are shri'nkable by fulling, that is, by Working the fabric when subjected tol water.

The effect of the fulling is to cause the ilbersof the thread I2, particularly the woolen fibers, to mat together or to work longitudinally in such a way as to shorten the threads by permanently shrinking them. As the threads I2 shorten the distance from any two points on these threads becomes less, while the threads i0 and Il maintain their original lengthl and therefore gather the fabric into puckers I3, as indicated in Fig. 2. 'Iol control the extent of puckering and to set a definite limit to it, the threads I2 are preferably made of wool or of a mixture of wool and other relatively non-shrinkable fibers. The presence of relatively non-shrinkable fibers serves to limit theworking together of the woolen fibers so that after they have been fulled to a certain extent fulling. This has the advantage that a puckered. ',55

the substituted bers interfere with further shrinkage. It'will be understood that byl substi tuting other fibers for woolen fibers the shrinkage is limited and the amount of puckering may thereby be predetermined.

The shrinkable threads I2 may be spaced at any desired distance and in this Way the size of the puckers may -be controlled. Also the threads I2 may be woven in two directions in the fabric, that is, they may be present both in the warp and in the weft threads.

The puckers may be selectively controlled to modify the appearance of the fabric by weaving the fullable threads to onesurface or the other at intervals or onto the surface ag intervals.

Through myinvention I have provided a fabric which is puckered by a permanent shrinkage 3 of certain threadsbut in which this shrinkage is limited and in which all of the shrinkage is obtained in a single plv. Inasmuch as the fabric is permanently shrunk it may be handled while wet or dried without-destroying thev puckered effect.v

What I claim is:

1. A single ply fabric of closely woven threadsV substantially unshrinkable by Vfulling and of 3. The fabric of claim 1 in which said shrunk threads contain substantially equal parts of wool and of fibers substantially knon-shrinlitable by fulling.

4. A single ply fabric havingv closely woven warp and weft threads, certain of said threads at spaced intervals comprising wool'and being per# manently shrunkby fulling, the Warp and Weit threads between said shrunk threads being sub. stantially, unshrinkable, and said shrunk threads puck'ering the fabric inthe spaces between said shrunk threads.

ABRAHAM A. KLAHIL. 

